


Speculations of the Owl Queen

by TheObnoxiousWindFish



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, I tried?, I'll admit my Miriel muse ain't as strong but, Not as gore heavy as the first one, companion fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheObnoxiousWindFish/pseuds/TheObnoxiousWindFish
Summary: Miriel has an epiphany.





	Speculations of the Owl Queen

The night is quiet, after the Mila tree had been defended. Most of those who had fought had gone their separate ways, tending to wounds or restocking weapons as required. Miriel, however, opted for another method of unwinding after such high tension - her tent, where she could write. 

Miriel was not a woman who understood emotion very well. Her own emotions were distant and hard be in touch with, much less the emotions of others. Don't misunderstand, however, Miriel can carry logical and proper conversation just as well as any other person in the army, if not better than most - it was relating to them in terms of emotion that made things... difficult. Topics that weren't able to be measured, like feelings and love were simply a bit too far out of her scope. Empathy was not her strong suit, which often got her odd looks due to stereotypes and general misunderstandings. She knew enough to at least attempt most emotions, and annoyance was one she often knew how to pull free from what she could feel, yet things had been changing again. The emotions were starting to feel weird, in ways she can't fathom with logic, for reasons she can't explain yet.

When it comes to these things, emotions she cannot handle in her own head, she writes them down. It's much easier than trying to explain them to anyone (or herself, for that matter), and she didn't quite trust any of the Shepards on that level yet. She trusts them with her life, yes, but her emotions are a rank above that.

Speaking of those things...

All problems can be solved in the same basic process, at least at first. Observation is first - explaining the problem to the best of the researcher's ability, leaving no stone alone in an attempt to explain everything the problem has been effecting. Thus, Miriel opens her most recent personal journal, uses a wisp of a fire spell to light the candle on her desk, and finds the place she left off on last. The last battle is still fresh in her mind, along with the last interactions - best to write them first, while the memory is fresh, then to compare with the later notes. From there, the problem can be observed as a whole - and Miriel's one step closer to solving her emotions (enough that they make sense to her). 

She reaches in her robes and removes her current pencil, then removes her hat to sit on the table near by. Her pencil touches paper, and she begins to write. First, basic notations - where they were, the enemies she faced, what they had in terms of weapons, skills and movement, all while notating the different magic she used and the positions of the enemies, as well as how the battle progressed. Miriel is no novelist, to the dismay of most. Her writing is all akin to the nonfiction science textbooks in libraries over any work of fiction, and while her vocabulary remains to be wider than most, she herself is more of the numerical sense. Then, the action of her comrade for the time being.

Right. Her comrade.

Since he had joined the party in that island fort around the same time as Lucina, Henry has been part of Miriel's shadow for a few months at this point. Miriel frowns as she checks the numbers again - time can be skewed, but low and behold it has been almost a year at this point of Henry tailing her around. A curious fellow who lived with crows and perhaps had a fondness for carnage, but Miriel felt no ill will from him. Not how the others had felt it, at least. Henry may be a dark mage, but he taught her of the dark magic he effortlessly wields and the hexes he conjures. He taught her of the Pleagian magic, and of the way his life had thrown him from place to place. Perhaps more of it was her own observations than him using words, but Miriel has seen and helped more orphans than anyone has given her credit for. She knows the signs, just like with other kinds of people.

Henry, as it was put, grew on her.

Not that Miriel could find a bad thing about this. He was loyal and gentle with creatures who he deemed worthy of being dealt with in such a way, but his kindness was not to be tested. He found comfort in animals and befriended Ricken quickly, yet...

Miriel catches herself thinking instead of writing and frowns at herself. She quickly shakes away the analysis of her comrade and focuses back on notating his behavior when they happened to be together. Perhaps... Miriel pauses for a moment after penning her last sentence, and begins about the time when Henry joined, sharp eyes gazing over every page. Miriel was always a fast reader, and it's saved her in the past.

It's not until she's a few paragraphs down from the second page that she notices a tone shift. It's not obvious, but its there and becomes more present as she continues reading. Henry was simply written off like the other members of the Shepards in her calculations and notes, yet as the time goes on, she's noticed a change. He has his own section in her notes rather than being lumped with the people notes. Her wording on his actions have changed - what used to be "pushed out of the way" has become "saved" and even "defended". She has notations on his crows in some pages, and the more Miriel begins to register the change, the more of a faint blush dusts her cheeks.

Perhaps... she has been spending quite a bit of time with Henry. Maybe too much.

She pauses to think back on the other Shepards. Even young Ricken had a bride, and the human hating Taguel Panne had her own mate... she, effectively, was the only single woman in the group at this point. It hadn't dawned on her until now that the army she had been marching with had been pairing up, simply as it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Miriel flips through her notes again and finds she did notate when everyone had announced their engagements...

Miriel finds herself embarrassed, of all things. Henry could have possibly been her partner this whole time and she wouldn't have been the wiser! It's not exactly a good thing to break his slow beating heart like that, and even now she knows what would happen if he had believed they were a pair and she hadn't any idea.

However, the more the subject of being Henry's partner plays in her head, the more she's not opposed to it. Henry is genuinely curious about the world around him, and his adoration of horror and gore means he wouldn't be squeamish or hysterical during riskier experimentation, either. She knows she's one of his favorite people...

Miriel finds herself shaking her head again, and sighing.

She flips the page, and beings notating the differences, attempting to come up with a conclusion to this conundrum. She had feelings about Henry, that much is obvious, but what kinds of feelings were they? Would she be able to be that close to someone? Could she even force herself to be emotional enough to be in a relationship like that?

Miriel closes the book at her desk and returns the pencil to her pocket in her robes. She steels her resolve, stands and pushes in her chair, grabbing her favorite hat before heading to the flap of her tent. She uses a gentle wind gust to extinguish the flame of the candle she had been using for light as she leaves the tent in a hurry. The sun had finally dipped beneath the horizon, giving the moon a chance to slip free and shine through the darkness. Miriel knows where to find him - the crows are generous like that. Her resolve steels, and Miriel prepares to talk of emotions to the one man who has earned the privilege to hear those emotions. Her real, honest to goodness feelings about things. It's terrifying, to a degree.

As Miriel disappears from the camp, following the path the crows lay out, a lone owl remains perched among the branches of a tree near by. She gives a low hoot, then closes its eyes as a crow perches next to her. The crow is familiar with the owl, and sits close enough to nestle together. It's an odd match, to be certain, but in the end, they're much happier.


End file.
